The Nigerian Government’s Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission has blazed an important trail, publishing details of 51 Federal public-private partnership (PPP) contracts—the culmination of a year’s work with the World Bank to ensure that all, non-confidential information in Public Private Partnership (PPP) contracts is easily accessible to the public. We hope other countries will follow Nigeria’s trend-setting lead.

Billions of US dollars have been spent—by governments, microfinance organizations, and NGOs—on training the owners of small businesses. Traditional programs typically aim to teach practices such as record-keeping, stock control, and simple marketing. But while these do seem to improve the performance of small businesses, most result in little real change, making the impact hard to detect.

Source: World Bank visualization based on data from NOAA’s VIIRS Satellite.
In Part III of our three-part blog series on our study on spatial distribution and its implications for inclusiveness development in Ethiopia over the next five years, we will broadly describe four overarching policy solutions to address spatial inequalities in development in Ethiopia.

Source: World Bank visualization based on data from various UN agencies

In Part I of our blog —based on a background note we wrote for the World Bank’s 2017–2022 Country Partnership Framework for Ethiopia—we presented our key findings on the spatial or regional distribution of poverty and child malnutrition in Ethiopia.

In Part II of our blog, we look at changes in road density over the ten years from 2006 to 2016, and in nightlights in six cities over four years from 2012 to 2016.

Malnutrition in Ethiopia: distribution of stunted children
The Country Partnership Framework (CPF) for the coming five years in Ethiopia, approved by the World Bank board in June, features a “spatial lens” for development activities. This lens was developed in a background note we wrote evaluating spatial disparities and their related challenges. In it, we looked at the policy framework put forward by the 2009 World Development Report “Reshaping Economic Geography,” and combined it with literature on pro-poor growth. Together, these have allowed us to put forward policy solutions Ethiopia could adop

South Africa: in need of speeding-up economic productivity with more innovation. Photo: Credit: Arne Hoel/World Bank

The 4th Industrial Revolution is here: driverless cars, 3-D printing, and Artificial Intelligence are the future. These innovations deliver the promise of better and more convenient lives to many. But they also disrupt the way in which we used to do things, including the way we work.

Some people think innovation is only about gadgets, high-tech industries, and laboratories. But this is only the tip of the iceberg! The truth is that there are many types of innovation that can have a transformational impact on everyday people’s lives.

Imagine this: You open your mail and it says that you are owed $1,200 from overpaid taxes! After recovering from your elation, you read on. The letter requests you to choose if you would like to be paid over the next year in increments of $100 every month or $300 every three months?